So, I confirmed some cool news today; I want to thank every bookseller, reviewer, librarian, and fellow author who has boosted my debut, THE MERCIFUL CROW, because it has earned out.

I had the idea for TMC back in October 2014; started drafting in Spring 2015, but didn't make much progress around a terrible job, until I left in Spring 2016. I wish I could say I left for happy reasons. I didn't.

I left because my mother, who lives in another state, was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and I knew if there was an emergency and I had to fly out on short notice, my job would not be happy. (My boss's answer to that was, "Enhhh..... yeah", so.)

The job I took next was supposed to be a part-time office assistant job at a tech "nonprofit", so, low stakes if there was an emergency, and enough time that I could keep working on my manuscript. It unfortunately turned into another terrible job.

20 hours a week became 30 pushing 40 whenever they could; it wasn't actually an office assistant role, but "facilities", which meant whatever they want it to mean. Some highlights included:
- Having to order, receive, and put away $250+ worth of groceries 3x a week

- Setting up, then cleaning up after, twice-weekly catered lunches for a staff of 100+ who would just... leave their dishes in the sink for me to wash
- Being forbidden to ask the other staff to even put their dishes in the dishwasher next to the sink

- Being reprimanded by the HR (!) lady because I, an hourly employee, didn't assist a salaried employee while on my unpaid mandatory lunch break
- Developing a back injury from the physical labor
- Being threatened by corporate lawyers after I filed a worker's comp claim

(How on earth do you get a back injury from dishes, you might be wondering? You do when you fill/unload 3 dishwashers multiple times a day, *and* unload $250+ of groceries, *and* clean up after catering, *and* also have to set up 6 conference rooms w/chairs that stack.)

My first manager quit in part because of how they treated me. My second manager, her boss, owned restaurants and likened the admin staff to wait service. He also said charming things like, "We do this so they (the tech staff) can do the IMPORTANT work."

(He also got mad if he saw me at my desk, because it meant I wasn't cleaning up something elsewhere.)

Anyway. Point being, this job sucked. A lot of things did. I was in an apartment with a mold problem and sketchy neighbors; money was tight because the job didn't pay great.

Mom was going through chemo and radiation (she's still in remission now) and All Of 2016 was happening. It was not a good time, and TMC was me, hoping desperately that I was writing my way out.

I finished drafting TMC in December-ish 2016? I want to say April 2017 was when I signed with @LitAgentMarini , a little over 4 years ago. At that point I let my supervisor know that while it wasn't likely it would change anything job-wise, I'd signed with a lit agent.

There's always a kind of patronizing indulgence from certain people when you talk about writing, like, how cute, you think this could happen for you. Especially when you don't fit their idea of an author. When I say I got that vibe...

But I was playing it safe because the best outcome I could imagine was getting a book deal, keeping a day job, and going full-time in 5 years.

When TMC sold for enough for me to go full-time immediately, I'm pretty sure my manager was the most surprised out of anyone.

It felt damn good to leave that job behind. (It felt even better when they had to hire multiple people to replace me.)

I say all this because there's a weight to TMC earning out, from all this. I didn't expect it, back in 2017; I was just trying to write my way out.

I've felt a lot of pressure to earn out since; having a big red mark on my sales history doesn't bode well for selling the next book. So earning out means I get to stay in the game. It means I don't have to go back.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my toothy, toothy heart.